New Google Earth Imagery - September 21

As pointed out by an anonymous GEB reader, Google has just pushed out a new imagery update for us!

What's interesting about this update is that the submitter also included a link to a KMZ file that shows all of the updated areas. This isn't an official file, and I have no idea where it came from, but a spot-check seems to indicate that it's accurate. You can download the KMZ file here.

Updated Gmail app in Android Market

We just released a new version of the Gmail app in Android Market, so Gmail updates aren’t tied to Android version releases anymore. Now you can get new Gmail stuff faster without having to wait for system updates. To start you off, we’ve improved message replies, access to quoted text, and more.

As you scroll through a conversation, your most important message actions will now stick to the top of the screen, one click away, no matter how long the email is.

Very long thread? Now you can view previous message content more easily, just like in the desktop version of Gmail. Tap “Show quoted text” to reveal the previous message.

Finally, this updated version of the Gmail app has limited support for Priority Inbox. If you’ve enabled Priority Inbox via the desktop version of Gmail, you’ll see an “Important” label that shows all messages flagged as important. You can even add a shortcut to “Important” to your home screen.

The Gmail update requires Froyo (Android version 2.2), so it’s available if you have a Nexus One, HTC EVO, Motorola Droid 2 or Motorola Droid. (Not sure if your device is running Android version 2.2? Check here.)

Midterm Elections Google Map

2010 U.S. Election Ratings Map

Google have teamed up with Cook, Rothenberg, CQ-Roll Call and RealClearPolitics to create a Google Map to display the current ratings of the Democrats and Republicans in the midterm elections.

The map uses Google Fusion Tables with the Google Maps API v3. Google have even provided a tutorial to show you how you can build your own similarintensity map with custom boundaries.

The states are shaded on the map according to one of the sources’ ratings of the Senate race. If you click on the sidebar links you can switch between the House or Governor races. The data on the map will be updated daily based on the latest ratings.

Shades of red, shades of blue: mapping midterm election ratings

With the midterm elections in the U.S. just six weeks away, everyone is wondering how the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats will shake out after November 2. Although more than 500 seats will be decided in House, Senate, and Governor races, the current tallies are so close that individual races are receiving great scrutiny: you’ll find several sources providing estimations for how each race is leaning.

To make tracking the blues and reds a little easier for armchair pundits, we’ve partnered with some of the most respected names in politics—Cook, Rothenberg, CQ-Roll Call andRealClearPolitics—to put their ratings in the same place and on the same map. You can find it at maps.google.com/elections2010.


The map initially shows loads with states shaded according to one of the sources’ ratings of the Senate race; click the links on the left to switch to House or Governor races, or to switch sources. To compare the ratings head-to-head, click a given state or district, and you’ll see ratings from each source displayed. We refresh the data daily based on the latest ratings, so come back as the races develop. If you would like to put this map in your own website, you can embed it as a gadget and grab the code here.

This gadget is powered by the highly flexible yet simple-to-build-on Fusion Tables, whichdirectly integrates into Google Maps API v3. Even if you’re not a programmer, there's a lot that you can do with Fusion Tables to manipulate and visualize data, and in the spirit of the season, check out our new tutorial that demonstrates how to analyze Census data by congressional district and share what you’ve come up with.

Along with other initiatives, including the Election Center with our Public Sector team and You Choose at YouTube, this map gadget is an important way that we’re working to improve communication, discourse and understanding of the political process.

Transparency Report: Government Requests Map

"We’ve created an interactive map of Government Requests that shows the number of government inquiries for information about users and requests for Google to take down or censor content. We hope this step toward greater transparency will help in ongoing discussions about the appropriate scope and authority of government requests."


United Kingdom
In the UK for example, the map shows that there were 1,343 requests for data between January and June 2010. There were also 48 requests for the removal of content, regarding 232 items. The majority of this content was within the web search category.

Transparency Report: Traffic Chart
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/traffic/

A Real-Time Bus Map for Malmö

Kollektivt.se

Kollektivt.se is a Google Map showing the real-time location of buses in Malmö, Sweden. The map and an API were developed in just 24 hours at theCodemocracy open data hackathon in Sweden.

Using the map it is possible to select any or all of the city's bus routes and to view the locations of all the city's buses in real-time animated on the map.

Kollectivt.se have also created an API that allows third parties to retrieve the location data of buses in central Malmö.

10 Google Earth myths busted

Rich over at Google Earth Design has just published an entry titled "10 Myth Busting Facts about Google Earth".

Over the years, we've covered most of these myths on Google Earth Blog, but it's always good to re-post items like this to help out new users. Be sure to check out our Google Earth Basicspage for a variety of tutorials.

Here Rich's list of facts that many users aren't aware of:

1 -- You can make your own map in GEarth. Use the "Add" menu at the top of your screen to add placemarks, lines, and other items to the map.

2 -- Google Earth isn't just satellite images and roads. Use the "layers" on the side of your screen to find a lot more data to use; photos, Wikipedia entries, 3D buildings and much more.

3 -- Any map you make in Google Earth is not visible to anyone else unless you publish it. While you can certainly use the items in #1 to create your own maps, those maps are private unless you share them with others via email, or by posting on a site like the Google Earth Community or Google Earth Hacks.

4 -- You can publish your own map without going through Google. This is very similar to #3, but it's from the opposite angle. Not only can you create your own maps, but Google doesn't have to get involved at all. Create a map, share it, post it, email it, whatever. There's no gatekeeper to go through to be able to share your maps.

5 -- The satellite data in Google Earth is historic, i.e. its not imagery taken today. This is one of the most common myths: Google Earth imagery is live, and you can watch people in real-time. In fact, it's not even close. Frank wrote an excellent post about this last year, and it's worth reading to gain an understanding about the process of moving imagery from satellites to your computer.

6 -- Google does not censor satellite imagery. While there are a few cases where they've censored imagery in the past (like around the White House), it's far less common than most people think. The fact that companies like CNN still thinks it's real-time (and actively censored) certainly doesn't help...

7 -- You can use Google Earth offline. You can browse an area of the map, let Google Earth store that imagery on your system, and then you can use it when you're not connected to the internet. [details]

8 -- You can tilt the view to see mountains in 3D. This is less of a myth than it once was, but it's always worth mentioning; you can tilt your view to see 3D mountains and buildings. You can read this article for help getting started with it.

9 -- Google Earth is not a security threat. Pointing back to items #5 and #6 on this list, Google Earth isn't the security threat that people think it might be. Having access to aerial imagery isn't a big deal for people that want it, and the fact that it's months (or years) old makes it much less helpful. If Google Earth were to cease to exist, you could still get similar imagery from Google Maps, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, Mapquest and various others. Google Earth just has the best interface. :)

10 -- You can use Google Earth to explore other Planets, the Sky and History. Recent versions of Google Earth have added lots of great things to Google Earth, including Mars, the moon, the night sky and historical imagery. These are all wonderful tools that are easy to access, but a lot of users don't even realize that they're there.

Be sure to check out his full list to see his comments on each item.

What other misconceptions about Google Earth do you encounter from others? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Story Map of the Christchurch Earthquake

Earthquake Map

"I didn't know what was happening! I thought it was a bad dream or that a giant was under our house shaking it wildly!

It was hard to get to the doorframe. We stumbled from side to side, it was almost like slow motion running because our floor was moving all over the place! First the house moved crazily from side to side then it started rolling like a bowling ball rolling down a bowling aisle."

Harriet Compton-Moen, 7 years old

New Zealand news website stuff.co.nz has created an incredibly moving Google Map to record and map readers' stories about the recent earthquake in Christchurch. Currently the map shows over 400 stories.

To read one of the reader submitted stories just click on the categorised markers on the map. These first hand accounts really help to convey the affect that the Christchurch earthquake has had on the city and its people.

Via: Living Geography

Also See

• Stuff.co.nz Post Quake Services - map of post-earthquake services available in Christchurch.
• Mapping Quakes in Canterbury - mapped storyboard of seismic activity for the Christchurch earthquake
• Christchurch Quake Map

Chile Taxi Prices on Google Maps

Taximetro

This Spanish language taxi fare calculator uses Google Maps to help you work out the likely cost of a taxi journey in a number of cities around the world. Currently the map works in Santiago and Valparaiso, Chile, Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Cordoba, Argentina and in Madrid and Barcelona in Spain.

To set your starting point you can click on the first green map marker and then on the map. Then click on the second map marker and then on the map to set your destination. You can also use the text input areas to add your starting and finishing point.

When you are happy with your journey the map will show your route and the likely cost of your taxi journey will be displayed in the map sidebar.

Ocean comes to Google Earth for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

We recently announced the arrival of ocean bathymetry and ocean layer content to Google Earth for Android. Today, with the latest release of Google Earth 3.1 for iOS, we’re proud to announce that you can now explore underwater landscapes and terrain on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Dive below the ocean’s surface to explore underwater canyons, or travel to the ocean’s deepest point, the Mariana Trench. Once underwater, simply swipe the screen with two fingers to “look around.” You can always reset your view by clicking on the north arrow on the iPad, or on the compass on the iPhone and iPod.As with the desktop and other mobile versions of Google Earth, we’ve also added the “Ocean” layer, which features hundreds of photos and videos from more than 100 contributors curated by the Sylvia Earle Alliance.

This version also includes native support for the new Retina display, which means that if you have an iPhone 4 or the new iPod touch, you’ll get to enjoy an even sharper view of the world.

Google Earth 3.2 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is available now in the App Store, or navigate to http://m.google.com/earth in your mobile browser. You can also download Google Earth by scanning this QR code:

For help or additional information, visit our help center.